US President Joe Biden is expected to attend a ceremony to honor the three US troops killed at a US base in Jordan on Sunday in a drone attack blamed on an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias.
On Tuesday, he indicated that he had made a decision regarding his administration's response: "I don't think we need a wider war in the Middle East," he said at the White House. "That's not what I'm looking for."
US officials have reportedly told US network CBS News that plans have been approved for a series of strikes on Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq that would take place over a number of days.
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the US was trying to "hold the right people accountable" without escalating the conflict in the region.
While details on the planned strikes remain unclear, there appears to be more clarity about which of the Iran-backed troops launched the drone attack on the US camp in northern Jordan on the border with Syria.
"We believe that the attack in Jordan was planned, resourced, and facilitated by an umbrella group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which contains multiple groups, including [the pro-Iranian] Kataib Hezbollah (not to be confused with Hezbollah in Lebanon — the ed.)," US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in Washington on Wednesday.
Since Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 and Israel's subsequent retaliation in Gaza, there have been a number of attacks on US troops in the region. Since October 18, 2023, the US military has counted at least 166 attacks on US military facilities, including 67 in Iraq and 98 in Syria (as of January 30).
But the January 28 attack in Jordan was the first one that killed US soldiers since the current war between Israel and Hamas broke out.
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